3G Packet Core

Flint Designs and Delivers Major 3G Packet Core Upgrade for Global Service Provider

In Brief

Flint swapped-out 1,400 APNs from one vendor to another within the 3G packet core of a global service provider

New GGSN was fully integrated into the core network

Continuity of service was achieved throughout the project

Flint assembled a project team with rare, multi-vendor skills and proven expertise

Project was delivered on time and at quoted fixed cost

Flint was commissioned by a major equipment vendor to replace 1,400 APNs in 30 Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSNs) from ST16 to ST40 for a global mobile service provider. The swap-out was part of a project to increase capacity, availability, performance and subscriber and network intelligence in the core network.

The Challenge

Flint’s brief was to Plan, Design and Implement the replacement of nodes within the 3G packet core from one vendor to another as part of a major network upgrade, which covered installations in the UK and Netherlands. The project entailed upgrading APNs serving high profile businesses such as British Airways and BMW, as well as the emergency services and government organisations.

Neil Burbidge, MD of Flint International, explained, “This was a complex project with a number of challenging design issues. We needed to ensure that we could integrate the new GGSN to the existing core network without any interruption to end users’ service.”

Flint was able to assemble a team of technical specialists with a wide range of hard-to-com-by skills across multiple vendors for the project. The team mapped the configuration through to the migration phase, ensuring that they could complete the swap-outs without any risk to end-user service.

The Solution

In order to assure the continuity of service that was paramount given the importance of the end-user customers, Flint ensured that the team had been made fully aware of everything involved in the changeover at the design stage.

The Result

Neil Burbidge concluded, “We were able to show evidence of our experience in executing similar migrations at other leading service providers and to ensure that any potential risks were fully mitigated so that there would be no impact on the network operator or its customers.”

Flint planned the project meticulously, which meant that the project was delivered exactly to plan and to the fixed-price budget.

“Flint’s expertise, approach, professionalism, and tenacity all contributed to one of the best-delivered services I have ever witnessed in almost 30 years of telecoms”